Fullmetal Alchemist: The Aftermath
by U.N.-Owen-TwoYoo
Summary: Four years have passed since Father was defeated. The country of Amestris is still at war with the three surrounding countries of Aerugo, Creta, and Drachma. Younger and younger boys and girls are being enlisted and it's not uncommon to find a boy of 11 in the cadets. Maes Walsh, a young man in Central, isn't proud of his past. What secrets will the war bring to his attention?
1. Prolouge: The Gate

_**DISCLAIMER**_

_**If you are really stupid enough to think that we own FMA, then you must be three years old. We don't own anything except for our original characters and story arcs. Most pairings, if any will be OCxOC possibly OCxAl. May or may not happen.**_

_**WARNINGS: Contains material some viewers might not find suitable. Most chapters rated T. Other chapters will have a separate warning and will be rated M. R&R**_

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><p>He stared at the white figure in front of him. It had no features except for a large creepy grin on its face. He looked around in confusion, noticing large doors in front of him.<p>

"Wh-Where am I?" He asked. "Who are you?"

The figure's grin seemed to grow larger at the boy's inquiries. _"I am what you people call God. You can call me Truth. You're standing at the gate. For a price, it can show you many things."_

The boy proceeded with caution, "What kind of price?"

"_We'll discuss that later. But for now, it's too late to turn back." _The figure's mouth contorted sickly as the Gate opened, revealing a large purple eye. Small black fingers extended from the shadows and pulled him through the Gate. He was suddenly surrounded by information. Though most of it was just a blurred glance, his brain captured each image with extreme detail and ease.

Eventually it all became too much to handle, and his senses were overwhelmed to the point of exploding. Just as he couldn't take anymore of the rush of information, he was thrown back out. He was breathing hard and was barely able to keep his eyes open as he stared into the blank expanse of the figure.

"Wh-what the Hell was that? It was like I could see everything, and right when I was about to lose control, I was pulled back."

The figure's large grin grew bigger. _"That was all you get for your payment."_

He finally looked down to realize that his left leg and right foot were disappearing and reappearing onto the figure. He also felt the muscles in his abdomen slowly fade. His memory was also failing him.

The figure waved at him. _**"Bye-Bye~"**_

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><p>She looked up, horrified. Her best friend was missing and she was standing in front of a huge door. She looked at the white figure standing in front of it.<p>

"Where's Diane?" She screeched at the figure.

"_Welcome, I am Truth. You're friend has gone through the Gate," _It said. _"You may pass through it as well, for a price."_

She looked frightened. "What will happen if I go through it?"

Truth's impossibly large grin grew even bigger. _"Why don't you find out?"_

The doors opened and she screamed as the small shadowy arms wrapped around her and pulled her through the Gate. She was overcome with information and it was almost immediately becoming too much to handle.

"Make it stop! Make it stop! Please!"

The flood of information ceased entirely and she found herself back in front of the gate.

"Wait! Let me back in! The answer was right there! I could have saved her! I could have saved Diane!" She screamed at truth and tried to get up. But she realized that there was no movement under her knees. She looked down and to her horror saw that her legs were gone. She looked back at Truth.

"What's happening to me?" She asked with terror. She watched as her legs slowly appeared on Truth. As she was watching she realized that her right eye was disappearing too.

Truth laughed mercilessly. _"This is your payment for going through the gate. You're legs and you're eye." _He waved at the girl as she stared in complete horror at her eye on Truth's face.

"_**Good bye~"**_


	2. Why So Blunt?

_**DISCLAIMER**_

_**If you are really stupid enough to think that we own FMA, then you must be three years old. We don't own anything except for our original characters and story arcs. Most pairings, if any will be OCxOC possibly OCxAl. May or may not happen.**_

_**WARNINGS: Contains material some viewers might not find suitable. Most chapters rated T. Other chapters will have a separate warning and will be rated M.**_

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><p>It was a rather peaceful day in Central. The birds were chirping, and the sun shining. Even newly appointed Brigadier General, Roy Mustang, was humming a tune while he did his paperwork. Albeit against his will. There was a knock at his office door and Major Markus Weber came in with his latest mission report and a cup of coffee.<p>

"Good morning sir. I have brought the report and the coffee you asked for."

Roy grunted out a thank you as the two items were placed on his desk. He flipped through the report and sipped his coffee. He set both aside and motioned for Markus to sit down.

After a moment Roy spoke. "How did the mission go, Major?"

"As usual, just another false report of terrorism. No Drachmann soldiers have ever been in that area."

"Good to know. We have a limited supply of troops that need to be sent to each of these areas. Oh, and by the way, as of today you will no longer be reporting to me."

"Yes si- wait. What?" His jaw was on the floor. Sure he was used to his superior's lack of tact when it came to normal conversation. But he was usually reserved and not so nonchalant about matters like this.

"You heard me, Steel Fist. You have a new superior officer. His office is right down the hall if you wish to meet him. His name is Colonel Maes Walsh."

Markus recomposed himself and saluted. "I'll head over there immediately, sir."

"At ease soldier, you can go." Roy responded.

"Thank You, Brigadier General," Markus Said. As he walked towards to the door on the opposite end of the room, he heard the general laugh.

Just when Markus had reached the door handle, Roy called to him, "Hey Steel! Tell Walsh I said 'You're welcome.' Ahahahahaha!"

Markus walked out the door and closed it. He exhaled the largest breath he had ever held in his life and put his hands in his pockets. He began to rub his thumb over his pocket watch to calm his nerves.

Markus walked slowly down the large marble hallway. And sighed to himself.

"What the hell is this all about?" He grumbled. "Man!"

He got about halfway down the hall before another thought occurred to him.

'_Wait what am I worrying about? It's just a different superior. It can't be ALL that bad, right? Heck, maybe he'll be less blunt about everything.'_

He arrived at a large door in the far east wing of the Central Command building. It had a new name inscribed in gold on it. It read, 'Colonel Maes Walsh'.

"Well," Markus muttered under his breath. "Here goes nothing." He knocked on the door and waited for a response.

The door swung open to reveal a woman with very short hair and dark blue eyes. She was immediately in his face. That's when Markus became a deer in the headlights and stopped moving all together.

"Who are the hell are you , and what do you want?" The masculine woman demanded.

He was barely able to stammer out the words, "I-I'm Major Markus Weber! B-Brigadier General Roy Mustang sent me."

The woman then turned back into the room, and yelled, "Hey, Colonel! Wake up! One of Mustang's lackeys is here."

The Colonel looked up at her groggily and grunted, "Just let him in."

The brutish woman stepped aside and let him pass. Inside he saw a Xingese man sitting at his desk in the right side of the room and desperately fanning himself, his uniform jacket hung on the back of his chair. To the left he saw an empty desk covered with pictures of people with X's over their faces. Guessing it belonged to the butch woman he decided not to stare too long and looked instead in front of him where a man with dark skin sat working on his paperwork, his jacket also missing.

It was then that Markus realized the room was very warm. He looked to the woman still standing next to him and she nodded, allowing him to remove his jacket. He politely declined so she closed the door and sat back at her desk, pointing to the back of the room with her thumb.

Markus looked to the back and noticed another person, the Colonel no doubt, dozing on a pile of completed paper, with exhaustion evident on his face.

"Uh… Excuse me, Colonel Walsh?" Markus asked as politely as he could. "May I speak with you?"

"Oh, here we go! What does Mustang want now? God, if he's going to treat me like a slave, he can at least give us some freaking air conditioning!" Maes slammed his forehead onto his desk. He stayed there for a moment before picking his head back up and starring at Markus blankly.

"What do you want?" He asked in a rude tone.

"Well actually I wanted to talk to you about Brigadier General Mustang. It seems that I've been transferred from him to you."

"Oh your the new guy! Thank goodness! I've been in the Military for two years and I'm just now getting a state alchemist under my command. I guess he thought I was too young or something, but still. Anyway what's your name?" Maes asked with a small grin on his face.

Markus stiffened a little and replied, "Markus Weber."

Maes lifted his head higher. "Your State Alchemist name too, dumb ass!" Maes said with a perk in his voice.

"Oh," Markus responded." It's The Steel Fist Alchemist."

"Hmm. I Haven't heard of you…" Maes said slowly. He turned to the butch woman.

"Lieutenant Colonel Mortizzi. Go grab his files from Mustang." He turned his attention back to Markus.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Colonel Maes Walsh. The Quick Blade Alchemist" Maes said, almost gloatingly.

Markus smirked. "Oh so you're the useless Quick Blade Alchemist."

"WHAT? USELESS? I'M NOT USELESS!" Maes slammed his head back onto his desk and stayed there for a moment.

"Guess this means I won't be doing any work anymore~" Markus laughed, and looked at the two men, whose heads were in their hands, preparing for the oncoming hell. The Lieutenant Colonel had already left the room.

Maes raised his head and glared up at Markus with his green eyes clouded with anger. He got up suddenly and stormed over to him. Markus flinched as the front of his uniform jacket was grabbed roughly.

Maes got right in Markus's face and growled out, "Oh you'll be doing something."

He then flung Markus against the wall and clapped his hands. He touched the picture frame on the Ishbalan's desk and it morphed into a blade. Maes had the blade to Markus's neck before he could blink.

"W-whoa…" Markus stuttered with fear. However his fear quickly turned to envy.

"Wait a second! You did that without a transmutation circle!" He shouted. "How the hell did you do that?"

Maes returned the picture frame to its original state. He set it back on the desk and looked Markus straight in the eye.

"Let's just say I've done some things I'm not proud of." He went back to his desk and regarded the pile of completed paperwork with a glare and sighed.

He looked back at Markus as Mortizzi came back in and handed him the paperwork for Markus's transfer. "If you want to be useful, file your paperwork while I take a walk."

He left the room in a hurry and slammed the door behind him. He just let his feet carry him, not caring where they went. Eventually he wound up in a grassy area behind the headquarters and took a deep breath, slumping onto a bench. Putting his head in his hands, he sighed.

"I need to let things like that stop upsetting me…" He looked to the right and saw a bright blue flash coming from a person standing by a tree. His overpowering, natural curiosity got the better of him and he decided to go take a look. When he got closer he saw that a low branch off the tree had been turned into a weaved heart with tendrils making swirl patterns.

He looked to the creator, "That's beautiful. Did you make it?"

The boy looked back at him with surprised golden eyes. "Oh! Hi! You scared me a little there."

Maes apologized and introduced himself, "Sorry about that. My name is Colonel Maes Walsh."

"Alphonse Elric, nice to meet you, Colonel. And yes I did make this. It's for my brother and his wife's two year anniversary. It's not for another few months but I'm trying to get the design perfect."

"Well that's very kind of you, Alphonse." He smiled at him.

'This guy is cute. He's got pretty eyes too.' He continued to think about Alphonse and stared off into the distance.

"U-uh… are you okay?" Alphonse became worried at the blank expression on the Colonel's face.

Maes snapped out of it and looked back at Alphonse his face a bit flushed. "Sorry I spaced out for a second there!" He put his hand on the back of his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh that's alright." Alphonse smiled and showed him the circle he used for the design. "I could show you a few things if you'd like me too."

"That would be wonderful. How did you get the tendrils to make such lovely patterns?"

Alphonse was about to respond when Fuhrer Grumman's voice came over the newly installed speakers.

"All state alchemist, commanding officers please report to my office immediately. That is all. Thank you."

Maes held out his hand, "I have to go. It was nice meeting you though."

Alphonse shook Maes's outstretched hand and smiled, "Likewise, I hope to see you sometime soon, Colonel." Maes took off and headed towards the Fuhrer's office. When he arrived at his destination he stood next to Mustang and waited for the Fuhrer to speak.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, We have reports of serial killer in our city. He is very dangerous and that's why I want all of you to group up into teams of two. And when you are done, pick two of your most skilled subordinates and go through the mission file together. Each team of two can get their mission files from my secretary on the way out the door. Thank you. That is all."

Mustang pulled Walsh out of the room by his arm and picked up a mission file from the secretary.

"Let's go, Quick Blade," He commanded. "For our subordinates we are going to have Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye and Major Weber. If you have any problems with that, too bad."

"No problems, _sir_," The blond responded. "But if I may ask, why those two in particular?"

The Brigadier General smirked. "Hawkeye is good with guns, Weber is good with close range hand to hand combat and mid-range. You're good with mid and long-range and I'm good with all ranges but especially long. Weber and I also have experience with investigations and undercover work. While Hawkeye can teach you about surveillance."

"A perfectly balanced team. By the way, thanks for the new eye candy. Oh and one more question, do you know a guy named-"

"Not the time, Walsh."

Maes sighed, "Yes, sir."


	3. Dents in the Floor

_**DISCLAIMER**_

_**If you are really stupid enough to think that we own FMA, then you must be three years old. We don't own anything except for our original characters and story arcs. Most pairings, if any will be OCxOC possibly OCxAl. May or may not happen.**_

_**WARNINGS: Contains material some viewers might not find suitable. Most chapters rated T. Other chapters will have a separate warning and will be rated M.**_

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><p>Mustang and Walsh walked into Roy's office. Maes sat down while Roy paged Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye and Major Weber into the room. When the two arrived they were informed about the mission statements and they all went over the file together.<p>

Roy was the first to speak, "It's seems the killer has used many different weapons but the main thing is that so far he has only killed people who live in Central, and were in the Ishbalan war. It's like we have another Scar running around."

Markus raised his hand childishly.

Mustang sighed. "What is it, Major?"

He put his hand back down. "Who's Scar?"

The lieutenant colonel looked at him with a calm face. "Scar was an enemy to the state not to long ago. He killed state alchemists because of what they did in Ishbal. He's a man of peace now, going to nomad tribes of his people and helping them to rebuild their people."

"Oh," He responded. "How come you guys didn't kill him?"

Hawkeye was about to answer when Roy stopped her. "That's a story for another time, kid. By the way, I know you didn't tell your new colonel what I told you to say?"

The major looked upset. "I thought you were joking!"

"Ahem," Maes said from his chair. "I am in the room by the way."

Roy smirked. "Aren't you going to thank me again for your new piece of eye candy now that he's in the room?"

Markus was confused. He thought to himself. 'Wait, what? Eye candy? What are they talking about?'

He scowled, "Are you implying something Mustang?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all," Roy said with a grin. Markus then once again raised his hand.

"WHAT! What do you want!" Maes yelled at Markus.

"Sh-shouldn't we be focusing on the mission?" he asked with a frightened expression on his face.

Maes's anger dropped when he saw that he was scaring his subordinate.

'Damn it…' He thought. 'I'm such an ass sometimes…'

"Sorry about that Major," he responded. "You're right. Let's focus on the mission."

The four of them continued to go over the mission file until night came upon the city.

In the eastern part of the city, a young man ran through the streets, chased by small figure. It threw multiple objects at him with lightning speed. The boy stumbled over a rock and flailed his arms around him wildly. One of the objects hit his sleeve and pinned his right hand next to his head on a wooden fence.

"Damn it!" He shouted. He turned around, his back facing the fence, only to have his other hand pinned to the fence near his waist.

A little girl stepped forward, a knife raised in her hand. The light from the moon reflected off her snow white hair and her eyes were hidden in the shadow of a large hat adorning her head. Her dark skin was paler where the hat did not shade from the light. She smiled at the boy pinned to the fence. A smile full of animosity as if she had a personal grudge with him.

"You will pay for what you have done…"

"C'mon kid! I don't even know you!" He tugged at the restraints, but to no avail. The denim jacket was too strong to rip.

The little girl got closer to him and looked into his left eye, the right being covered with an eye patch. She saw fear and pain from a past that was probably rough. However she did not see what she was looking for. The dull look that a man or woman gets when they have killed in battle. This boy was not one of her desired targets.

"I can't kill you. Master said only the murderers." She took the knives out of his sleeves and walked away, seemingly disappearing into the shadows.

The boy fell to his knees, a metal clang resounding as he hit a pipe. The noise was heard by a woman who was baking bread to sell the next day. When she saw the boy battered and bruised she ran over to him as quickly as she could.

"My lord! Are you alright dear?" She asked as she helped him up.

He smiled at her. "Yeah I'm alright. I… I got chase by a wild dog."

"Let's get you clean and warm then." The two went in to the woman's house and she showed him to the bath tub.

"When you get cleaned up, put on those fresh clothes on the counter and come downstairs."

"Yes ma'am." He smiled and closed the bathroom door. "Phew… at least no one will be around to see…"

When he came back downstairs he made clunking noises as his metal feet his the wood. He was surprised that the woman didn't ask about them but decided to ignore it when she handed him fresh baked bread.

"Thank you so much Mrs…"

"Jenkins. Flora Jenkins." She smiled at him and put some milk on the table. "And It's Ms., not Mrs."

He flushed a little at his mess up. "Well, then, thank you Ms Jenkins." He drank the milk down and ate the bread rather quickly. He hadn't eaten in two days.

"Now then. Mind telling me your name and why your feet are putting dents in my floor?" Flora handed him a napkin.

He wiped his face and replied, "I'm Derian Weaver. I've been traveling all of Amestris looking for my older brother. All we had was each other and he left me alone when I was five. He was seven. I lost my legs and my eye in an explosion about a year ago when I was looking for him in the east. I got them replaced and now I'm in Central to see if I can find him here."

"Well then, Derian, you are always welcome here for a warm bed and some warm bread. The room across from the washroom is where you can sleep."

"Thank you, Ms. Jenkins." After they finished eating Derian fell asleep as soon as his head it the pillow. He did have to put up a fight to keep his hat on while he slept, though. Before she left the room, Flora pulled the covers over him and tucked him in neatly. She kissed his temple and went to close the door on her way out.

As she was closing the door she whispered to no one in particular, "It's alright, dear. When you're ready, you can tell me who you really are, you silly girl."

In the night, a scream would go unheard as a soldier was killed by a little girl who's heart was full of hate.


	4. Enter the Shrimp

_**DISCLAIMER**_

_**If you are really stupid enough to think that we own FMA, then you must be three years old. We don't own anything except for our original characters and story arcs. Most pairings, if any will be OCxOC possibly OCxAl. May or may not happen.**_

_**WARNINGS: Contains material some viewers might not find suitable. Most chapters rated T. Other chapters will have a separate warning and will be rated M.**_

_**Separate Warning: There are gay themes in this chapter. However, it's mostly flirting and it's also one sided. Please bear with it till the end of the chapter.**_

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><p>The next morning there was a large commotion outside the office door of a very tired and cranky Roy Mustang. About five minutes passed before the sounds of yelling were replaced by groans of pain.<p>

"I'll tell YOU when I can and cannot see that bastard!"

The door was kicked in and a young man stomped inside.

He had long blond hair tied in a high ponytail that reached down to his lower back, with bangs that framed his annoyed face. His fiery, gold eyes were set in a glare behind his red rimmed glassed and his turtleneck sweater showed off his toned chest and arms, gained by years of hard work and sparring.

"What's the big idea, Mustang? I'm supposed to come to you whenever I need a place to stay and your lackeys were out there trying to hold me back from getting a comfortable bed to sleep in!" The blonde continued to ramble at the sleepy man. Roy contemplated burning his unwanted visitor's tongue off, until he realized his gloves were with Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye. So in lieu of strangling the angry blond, he simply whistled loudly to get his attention.

"Ahh! Hey don't scare me like that! What do you want?" His glare pinpointed on Roy's lips. Of course only the mouth that could form the most perfect smirk could whistle that loudly. 'That jackass…' He thought.

"Listen Edward, go away." He said calmly. "I haven't slept all night and there's a serial killer on the loose. The last thing I need is a shrimp like you injuring my men or getting caught and turned into a damsel in distress. Although, the latter would be appropriate, given your long hair and feminine looks."

Edward stood there, his fists twitching in anger. He wasn't sure weather he should complain about his height, which was almost normal, or his masculinity, which was very important to him. In the end he decided to ignore it for now.

"Listen, I just want a damn room in the dorms for awhile, you stubborn bastard!" Ed growled at Mustang.

"Oh so the illustrious Edward Elric can't afford to stay in a hotel. I don't know, what's in it for me?" The officer smirked slyly.

"What the hell could I possibly give you? I'm broke, remember?" Ed snapped at him.

"You could always pay with your body." He stated bluntly.

"Eh… Uh… Wh-… WHAT THE HELL, MUSTANG?"

"I meant a job, Edward." Again with that damnable smirk.

Ed looked at him warily. "What kind of job exactly?"

"I need some extra help on the murder case. In exchange for a stay at the dorms, or my guest house if you'd like, you will help me solve the case."

Ed hesitated before answering, "Alright. But you better stock the fridge in your guest house."

There was a sigh, "I'm going to be out of money by the time this is over, aren't I?"

"Yep!"

Outside, Colonel Walsh was working on the case, tired from the night before. He was trying to get the image of the man he had met yesterday out of his head. He looked up and lo and behold there he was standing on steps in front of Central headquarters. He appeared to be looking for someone or something.

The Colonel packed up his things and headed to a nice tree where he could see him from a better angle. He looked to his right and saw one of his subordinates come towards him. It was First Lieutenant Mikkel Jensen. An Ishbalan and a terrific fighter. He was a great asset to any colonel and the fact that he had worked under a boy half his age only added to his credibility.

"Good morning, sir. Enjoying the view?" He smirked and nodded over to the blond who appeared to have found who or what he was looking for.

"Maybe I am and maybe I'm not." He smirked back. When he looked back towards Alphonse, he saw another man standing next to him. Long, golden hair contrasting with the others short, dirty blond hair. They were definitely related. The proof was in their impossibly golden eyes, slightly squared jaws, and similar builds.

While Alphonse was a bit more masculine, with wider shoulders and a more squared of jaw, the man that appeared to be his brother was softer looking. His jaw was a little rounder all of his features were softer but he was definitely strong hearted.

Maes looked at the two with his eyes full of wonder. He wondered how two such beautiful things could exist.

Mikkel spoke, "They're quite handsome. Shame they're the last of their kind."

"What do you mean 'last of their kind'?"

Mikkel looked at him, "The taller one is Alphonse Elric. The other is his older brother Edward. They're the last of the Xerxian race. A people of golden eyes and blond hair. One night a mysterious force took out almost all of the people. Now the Elric brothers are the only ones left."

"Oh… Well then we'll have to get them fast, won't we Lieutenant?"

"Here's our chance. They're coming over here." Mikkel nudged Maes and the two of them stood up to greet the two men walking toward them.

"I'm taking my chances with Ed. I love long hair. He's real pretty, too."

Maes snorted. "Suit yourself. I like my men to look like that. Men. Sure he's pretty but he's not my type."

Ed turned around and walked backwards while talking to his brother. He bumped into the Colonel, causing all of his paperwork to drop onto the floor. Ed immediately turned around and looked angrily at the other pony tailed blond.

"Hey watch where you're going! I'm trying to walk here!" He shouted.

"Hmm. That's interesting. Considering, one, you bumped into me, and, two, I wasn't even moving."

"So! You should still watch out for other people or at least warn them!"

"God! You're more arrogant than Brigadier General Mustang!"

"Tch. You mean the bastard that won't let me stay anywhere without doing something for him?"

"Only if you're talking about the same manipulative bastard that gives you missions only to make his life easier."

"The very same. Always criticizing me and what I look like or how I act!"

"Using your deepest darkest secrets-"

"To get you to do whatever he wants. Making your life a living hell."

Mikkel and Alphonse looked at each other in confusion as the two long haired blonds ranted on about the Brigadier General.

Ed tossed an arm around Maes's shoulder, "You know something, you're an alright guy."

"The feeling is mutual." They parted from their awkward side hug and shook hands.

"Allow me to introduce myself," Edward said. "Edward Elric, ex-state Alchemist." He held his hand out to shake.

Maes took the outstretched hand and shook it. "Colonel Maes Walsh, The Quickblade Alchemist."

Ed looked down, hiding his eyes behind his face. "Oh... Well, It's nice to meet you, Walsh." He released his hand and sighed.

Alphonse looked forlornly at the ground. He and his brother were thinking about the same thing. Hughes.

"Did… Did I say something wrong?" Maes stared at the two golden eyed men in confusion.

Alphonse put his hand on the confused Colonel's shoulder. It was warm. He gave him a sad smile that said, 'It's best not to ask,' and squeezed his shoulder. Maes took the hint and didn't ask anymore questions. Mikkel however took this as an opportunity to stop the moping.

"How about we all go get a coffee?" He said with a smile.

Maes winked and nudged Mikkel with his elbow. "That sounds like a great idea!" He said catching on to his subordinate's plan.

"Are you two in?" He addressed the two sullen Elrics with a grin.

Alphonse perked up. "Sure! Sounds like fun!"

Ed smiled. "You guys have to pay though. Al doesn't have his paycheck yet and I'm broke."

"That doesn't sound like a problem at all, does it, First Lieutenant?" Maes looked at him with a slightly malicious smile.

"Oh of course not, sir. I don't mind. As a matter of fact, it's my treat!" His boss may have been younger than him, but he was definitely faster and scarier when pissed of.

Maes's grin grew and he patted the tall Ishbalan on the back. "You didn't have to do that, Mikkel! But who am I to pass up my subordinate's generosity?"

They went off to Mikkel's car and did formal introductions on the way to the café. Of course it was the most expensive place Maes could think of. La Roussé was a very expensive coffee shop in central and it was where people could converse and most of the time, flirt.

The four sat down and ordered their coffees and began idle chatter. Alphonse showed Maes some of his research on plants and Mikkel was flirting in the most subtle way he could.

"Wow! I had no clue that you could manipulate the tendrils so precisely. I've never heard of using alchemy in this way, where did you learn all this?" Maes said. He was more interested in looking at the man speaking than the research below him.

"Well its a collection of things I've learned from Eastern Alkahestry in Xing, along with Amestrian and Aerugonian Alchemy." Al said in with a tone of lecture in his voice. It almost made Maes lose interest, but it was rekindled by a thought.

"Wait there are other forms of Alchemy?"

"Yeah. Al and I searched the outlying countries for all different sorts of Alchemy," Ed said, which disappointed Maes. He wanted to hear Al speak some more.

"So, you said you were an ex-State Alchemist, what was you name? Why did you leave, anyway?" Mikkel said trying to learn more about his most recent crush.

"I was Fullmetal. On account of how I had a metal leg." For a second time that day, Edward looked down. "I quit though because an unstable transmutation circle took away my ability to use alchemy.

"Oh my! That must be horrible. Living your life without your Alchemy." Mikkel said sounding more caring than Maes had ever heard him sound before.

"Yeah… Horrible…" Maes knew their was something wrong with Ed's story, but he didn't feel like making him sadder by forcing the truth out of him. It was his life, let him lie.

Mikkel decided to quickly change the subject. "D-do you mind if I see your leg? The metal one?"

Ed looked up with a small smile. "Sure. I cherish this limb in particular… It was my wedding gift from my wife!"

Mikkel looked liked a kicked puppy. If a muscular Ishbalan could even look like that.

"Wife? You're married?"

"Yeah! Almost two years!" He pulled the left pant leg up and revealed the metal of his leg.

"Eh… it's… very nice looking. I guess…" Maes said as his eyes became misty.

"So how'd you lose your legs, kid?" Ed said bluntly to the young alchemist.

A sudden rush of phantom pain shot through his body and dissipated as quickly as it came before Maes could respond. "I have not idea what you're talking about."

"I've had automail for about ten years. I know how it sounds when it clunks against the floor. Now why are you lying to me?" Ed said even more bluntly before, bit of anger penetrating his voice.

"Brother! That's none of our business!" Alphonse whisper yelled at his older sibling, trying not to cause a scene.

"I...I can't tell you." Maes said, no longer hiding the pained expression on his face.

"Believe me, we are in no place to judge you. I just don't like it when people keep secrets from and lie to me." Edward said, his voice becoming more sympathetic than angry.

Maes's face changed from pained to angry. He got up from the table and picked Edward up by the front of his shirt. He got in his face and looked into his shocked eyes.

"Listen up you… you shrimp." Ed flinched. "If you want to know so badly, I'll tell you. But not in front of my subordinate. Do you understand?"

Ed nodded his head as he was set down by the angry green eyed teen. Maes then stomped out of the café leaving everyone inside dumbstruck. Aside from Mikkel who was silently sulking about Ed being married.

Outside, the furious Colonel was trying his best to calm down. He was angry with Ed for being so knowing, he was angry at the situation, but mostly he was angry at himself for almost beating up Alphonse's brother right in front of him.

"Damn it…" He leaned against the cool wall of the building. "I need counseling or something…" The bricks felt rough on the back of his uniform jacket.

Mikkel came outside and sat down next to him. "Do you think there's a chance Ed would leave his wife?"

"Only if you think there's a chance Ishbala doesn't exist." Maes grinned at Mikkel and the two laughed together.

Mikkel looked at his boss with sympathetic red eyes. He patted his head and helped him up.

"You go wait in the car. I'll go get my unrequited love and his brother." He sulked back inside while Maes got in the back seat of the car.

The three came out of the building and got into the car. Ed in the front next to Mikkel and Al sitting behind him in the back. The ride to Alphonse's dorm was uncomfortably silent.

When they arrived to two brothers got out and said their goodbyes. Maes a little jealous about only getting a handshake.

"So where to Ed?" Mikkel asked with a smile.

"Brigadier General Mustangs home." He groaned. Maes glared holes at the back of Edward's head.

"Oh really? Good then I only have to make one stop. The Colonel here lives there with Mustang under court order."

Ed couldn't hold his laughter in and Maes had to resist the urge to smack him over the head. Instead he went for the insulting rout.

"Heh. I wouldn't be talking, shorty." Ed twitched at the third short comment of the day. He was already pissed that he was shorter than the fifteen year old. "You have to stay with him too. Though I'm sure you can handle a small annoyance like that."

Ed continued to stay as calm as he could. When they finally arrived at Mustang's home on Apple Street, Maes got out of the car waving goodbye to Mikkel as he walked up the walkway.

"Edward." Mikkel grabbed Ed's right arm as he went to get out of the car.

Ed flinched. "Could you please not hold onto my arm that way. It's kind of sensitive." The Lieutenant apologized and loosened his grip.

"I just want to be blunt with you." He started. "I know I have no chance with you whatsoever, but I want you to know that I like you. A lot." Mikkel kissed Ed's gloved hand and let go of him, a sad smile on his face.

"I'm flattered, I guess…" Ed stated. His face was flushed from embarrassment. Not once in his life had another man tried to woo him. He was partially disgusted, but he thought it better not to say anything and get out of the car quietly.

The Lieutenant waved and called out to the two as he pulled away, "See you tomorrow, Colonel! Enjoy your stay, Ed!"

The frustrated, and flustered blond walked up the stone walkway to the front door, where Maes was fumbling with his keys trying to remember which one unlocked the damn thing. He eventually pulled out the correct key and the two went inside.

"Walsh is that you?" Roy's voice called from the kitchen.

"Yeah. I brought Edward with me too." The two entered the kitchen to see Roy making stew and wearing a pink apron. This caused the blonds to giggle at the sight.

Roy rolled his eyes. "I'm surprised you even found him. He's so small I can't even see him over my stew pot." That was the straw that broke the short camel's back.

"Who are you calling so small he needs a carrot for a boat just to stay alive in your stupid stew?" Ed was seething as he finished his rant. His face was even more flushed than earlier and his eyes were glaring daggers into Mustang's face.

Maes was in shock. He had no idea that someone could freak out like that so easily and with such ferocity. The fact that Roy appeared to be used to it made him even more confused.

Roy just smirked. "You two go wash up. Dinner's almost ready. Try not to hurt yourself picking up the huge brick of soap, Ed."

"Damn it Mustang! Stop calling me small! I'm twenty-two years old for crying out loud!" He stomped away to the guest house bathroom to wash up.

The green eyed blond looked at the man in the pink apron. "What the hell was that?"

"That, my boy, was Edward Elric at his finest."


	5. Of Scars, Dreams, and Morning Coffee

_**DISCLAIMER**_

_**If you are really stupid enough to think that we own FMA, then you must be three years old. We don't own anything except for our original characters and story arcs. Most pairings, if any will be OCxOC possibly OCxAl. May or may not happen. WARNINGS: Contains material some viewers might not find suitable. Most chapters rated T. Other chapters will have a separate warning and will be rated M.**_

_**(This chapter used to contain a graphic sex scene that took place in a dream. I have replaced it with the thoughts of a different character. If you would like to see the original scene, please go look at the 'story' entitled, "FMATA Smut Scenes". There will be more. Some gay, some straight, and one lesbian.)**_

* * *

><p>The three sat down at the table. Roy had discarded his apron and had set out three bowls with the stew pot in the middle. He made sure to make a big pot of stew since Ed was coming over. Ed could eat a hundred bowls of rice and still be hungry.<p>

"So how long are you staying for, Edward?" The dark haired man asked.

Ed grinned and gulped down a mouthful of stew before he said, "Just long enough to eat you out of house and home!"

"Hey that's my job!" The other blond laughed.

"Oh it is Walsh? Then I guess you wouldn't mind covering the food expenses while Ed is here. We don't want him taking your job now, do we?" Mustang said with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Hardy har har, Mustang." Ed mock laughed. "Reminds me of the time you made me go all the way to the south, just to land a false lead and stop a riot in Aerugo."

Roy's smirk widened. "Oh? And how does it remind you of that."

"You made me do something I didn't want to do. Just like you're trying to now to the new Colonel Bastard."

"Hey! I'm nothing like him!" Maes shouted with indignity.

"Sure you are! You're just less than half his age and more stupid." Ed's face gained a smirk of its own.

"Boys!" Roy shouted. "Be kind to one another! After all you two are staying here for a while. Ed is here until he can afford a dorm or a house and you," he pointed to Maes, "are here until you're eighteen."

The green eyed boy got an angry look on his face. "Which is completely unfair!"

Roy glared back at him. "This is no joy ride for me either! But since General Armstrong found you outside of Fort Briggs, in the Drachman region no less, you can't be on your own till you are of legal age!"

While the two housemates continued to bicker, Ed finished up seconds and thirds of the stew, yawned, and stretched his arms. A loud crack from his right arm got the attention of the arguing pair.

"Sorry about that… My arm isn't what it used to be…" He looked at the others with a sad smile.

Roy's eyes became nostalgic and he nodded his head, while Maes looked confused.

Ed got up and took his bowl to the sink. "I'm going to bed. I had a long train ride. I don't have any clean clothes, though. Can I borrow something to sleep in, Mustang? I'll wash it with my other stuff tomorrow."

Roy nodded his head as he put the stew away. "Yeah. Meet me in my room in about ten minutes and I'll get you something. Walsh."

"Yeah?" He replied as he got up.

"I'll put the food away. We'll wash the dishes tomorrow after work. Go show Ed to the guest house."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

The two blonds went to the guest house and got Ed settled.

"Alright, Colonel Walsh. Show me your legs."

Maes sighed and sat down, rolling up the legs of his pant's revealing shiny metal. On his left leg, the metal met flesh at the knee. On the right, the ankle was where the metal stopped. Ed looked at it with interest. It was Fort Briggs quality. Made of carbon based steel and well taken care of.

"How long have you had your legs like this?"

"Since I was 10." He replied bluntly. "I have no recollection of how it happened. According to Miss Olivier, I was attacked by a bear. My mother was killed by it and my father was nowhere to be found."

"All I wanted was the truth. You didn't have to freak out on me in the café." Ed folded his arms across his chest in annoyance. Ed knew he was still missing part of the truth, but he was too tired to try and force it out of the kid.

The two headed back into the main part of the house. Maes pointed the golden eyed man up to where Roy's room was and parted, heading to his own room.

Ed stepped into the Brigadier General's lavish room and leaned against the wall. Roy stepped out from his closet, wearing a pair of purple night pants and holding a white silk top.

"I lost the bottoms to this a long time ago. It'll be kind of big on you, but it should keep you comfortable at least."

Ed grabbed the silky material and thanked him.

"Hey do you have a spare laundry hamper or something?"

Roy thought for a moment before answering. "No… But you can go ahead and change in here. The hamper is over there by the bathroom door."

Ed faced away from the dark haired man, never one to care if someone saw him or not, set the silk top on the bed, and pulled his turtle neck off. He tossed it in the hamper and undid the tie in his hair, letting it fall to cover his boxers as he took the pants off and tossed them in the with his sweater.

He turned back around to grab the silk top. He stopped halfway in his reach when he heard a gasp from the other man in the room.

"What?" He asked confused. "Is something wrong?"

"Your torso…" The look on his face was one of complete shock.

Edward looked down and realized what Mustang was so shocked about. Ed's chest was littered with different scars. Most were minor but there were a few that stood out. For one, Edward's right nipple was missing. It was removed when he went through automail surgery.

Then there was the large scar that went all the way around where his flesh arm had been put back into place. There was still some shrapnel stuck there.

Finally, there was the gruesome looking scar on the left side of his stomach from when he was impaled by a metal pipe while fighting Zolf J. Kimblee. He had fixed it with Alkahestry but it still looked horrifying and painful.

Edward quickly put the silk top on. "If you want to know I'll tell you tomorrow. I'm too tired tonight…"

Roy nodded his head. "I understand. Go off to bed then. See you in the morning for breakfast."

"Yeah… Good night." He left the room and shut the door behind him leaving Roy alone with his thoughts.

The black haired man put a hand on his own left side where he has burned his flesh to close a large wound left by Lust. She had dragged her nails about half a foot from the initial stab wound to cause the most damage. If Havoc hadn't been a chain smoker, they both would have been dead.

Roy turned off the lights and clambered into his bed. He got cozy under the blankets and fell asleep quickly.

In the other occupied bedroom, Maes was also having trouble falling asleep. His mind was full of the two Elric brothers. What was the deal with them? Why were they so intriguing and yet so bothersome?

The young Colonel's mind wandered to different parts. Unclean thoughts ran through his head. He couldn't help it. He was only sixteen. He began to dream, his mind filled with the two handsome men, and their impossibly golden eyes.

Meanwhile in the guest house, Ed looked around the room, unable to fall asleep. His cot was comfortable and the lighting was relaxing, but he couldn't shake the thoughts from his head. The Ishvalan who had said such endearing things, the young colonel's obvious crush on his brother, the investigation that he would have to be a part of, all these thoughts and more ran through his head. There was definitely something up with the kid's story. A bear attack, although likely, was certainly _not_ the reason he had such high quality legs.

'I miss Winry… I haven't seen her since my last visit. And that was six months ago. I'll have to make a call. She'll get worried if I don't. If she gets worried she'll hit me with the wrench I got her for our anniversary. I'll call her in a couple of days.'

He looked around the room. It was pretty small and held little more than the bed, an armoire and a night stand. An alarm clock sat on the wooden surface, its shiny metal shell reflecting the moon's light into his eyes.

'I wonder…' He thought. 'If that little bastard was trying to make a move on Al. He better not pull anything.'

Ed peered out of the window. The moon was nearly full. The surrounding stars gleamed brilliantly in the night. A thought then occurred to him.

'Didn't Mustang use to live in a dingy, ugly, little apartment? How the hell did he move into this big house? I'll have to ask him… I want a house like this for me and Win… Maybe raise a family.'

He smiled for a bit, but then his thoughts began to turn down an awkward corner as he remembered what it took to make a family. He pushed the thoughts from his head, his face heating up.

'I really need to stop thinking about stuff after eating so much. My thoughts get all weird… Whatever. Time for sleep.'

Closing his mind off from the world, he drifted off into a peaceful sleep, full of stew filled dreams and sweet moments with his wife.


	6. An Assumption, A Lead, and A Readhead

_**DISCLAIMER**_

_**If you are really stupid enough to think that we own FMA, then you must be three years old. We don't own anything except for our original characters and story arcs. Most pairings, if any will be OCxOC possibly OCxAl. May or may not happen. WARNINGS: Contains material some viewers might not find suitable. Most chapters rated T. Other chapters will have a separate warning and will be rated M.**_

As he walked down the stairs and into the dining room, Maes could smell the fresh coffee even stronger. He sat down in his usual seat and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. The houses other two occupants seemed to be missing but when he heard the guest house's door creak he knew that someone else was awake.

'_That's weird. I think I hear _two_ voices coming from the guest house.'_ He thought to himself. _'Did someone else come over or something?'_

"… want for breakfast?" Came a deep voice from down the hall.

'_Mustang?'_ The young colonel looked up to see a mop of dark hair that adorned the head of Roy Mustang. His arm was wrapped around their guest, Edward's, waist, who's own arm was around the other's shoulder. Ed seemed to be walking with a limp. A light went off in Maes's head.

"Well what I'm really hungry for is some-"

"You two had sex didn't you!" Roy's face paled as the words were shouted from the table. Ed's face turned an odd mixture of green and pink.

"Ew," said Ed plainly. "Good God no. What would give you that idea?" His hair was back in it's ponytail and he was glaring at the teen in the chair.

"It's so obvious! The limp, the way he's holding you! You're even wearing his shirt!" He was so impressed with himself, that a smug smirk sneaked it's way onto his face. For the second time that week, a loud whistle came from the lips of a very a annoyed Brigadier General, claiming the attention of the two blonds.

"First of all, I am helping him walk, not holding him, because his leg is being a piece of crap that needs to be worked on. Second of all, that is why he is limping." With this he set Ed down on to a chair and went into the kitchen.

"Thirdly, please stop making such bold accusations and tell me what you would like for breakfast so that we can eat and get ready for work." He put on his pink apron and picked up a spatula.

Ed decided to chirp in. "Pancakes!"

"Yeah that sounds good." The other said, feeling a fool for the second time that week.

Breakfast was finished in an awkward silence. After the dishes were washed, Roy helped Ed hobble up the stairs. Maes swore he could here them arguing about something, but the only words he could make out were, "…that damn blue uni-…" When the two walked in their awkward way down the stairs, it was clear that they were arguing about the military uniform. By the markings on the shoulder, Ed was wearing that of a Warrant Officer.

Roy tried to reason with the unhappy blond. "Come on, Edward. You need to wear this so that you can appear to be working at HQ."

"But everyone already knows me!" Ed retorted.

"It's protocol, _Fullmetal_." Roy sneered back.

Ed looked ready to hit him. "You know that isn't my name anymore, _Colonel bastard_."

"That's Brigadier General to you, pipsqueak." This was when Maes decided to intervene.

"Hey you two, lets stop fighting. It's just pointless."

Ed's patience was being tested to it's limits. "I wouldn't be arguing with this ass if he didn't make me wear the uniform."

"Well you wouldn't have to wear the uniform if you weren't so flat broke that you had to beg for place to stay," Roy said with a huge smirk growing on is face.

"You bastard! Why I ought to-" The imminent threat was cut off by an annoyed and slightly accented voice.

"We're going to be late! I don't know about you, but I don't feel like getting shot by Miss Hawkeye."

The "old married couple" looked at the seething Colonel and mumbled out some apologies before they all got into the car and headed to work.

Across the city the smell of apple pie wafted through the streets. The delicious smells were coming from a kind old lady's house. Inside she was making all sorts of fresh treats for her customers.

Derian woke with a start. His back ached and he couldn't remember where he was. The only thing he remembered from the previous night was the scary little girl and her glowing red eyes. However the smell of pastries from downstairs was enough to remind him that he was safe.

Derian looked over to the side to see a set of clothing there for him. They weren't his, but they looked his size. He got up out of the bed, and haphazardly made it before changing into the fresh clothing. He put on his boots, and headed down stairs.

"Good Morning, Ms. Jenkins!" He greeted as she pulled cookies out of the oven.

"Ah! Good morning, child~ There are some eggs on the table. Eat up!"

"Wow this looks amazing." The young boy said, drool accumulating at the corners of his mouth.

"It's just scrambled eggs, nothing really special dear." Flora said while giggling at the young boy's over excitement.

"Sorry it's just I haven't had a decent breakfast in a while." The youth responded as he picked up his fork and began eating.

"It's quite alright. Would you like some sausage? Maybe some bratwurst."

"Yes please!" The two sat together eating their breakfast chatting idly about this and that.

"So where do you plan to go from here?" Flora asked with a smile.

Derian swallowed the food in his mouth before responding, "Well. I was going to check the town for a bit. Maybe ask if I can use the library to find some travel records. My brother was a pretty talented alchemist too so maybe I'll check Central Command."

The gracious woman looked at him with a kind face. "I think if you talk to some of the State Alchemists, _they_ could tell you where to find him."

"That's a great idea! Thanks Mrs. J!"

"You're quite welcome. Now I'm sure you'll be wanting to head out as soon as possible. Would you like me to pack you a lunch?"

"Oh you don't have to do that, I have enough money to get something for myself."

"Alright then. Can you do me a favour while you are out?"

"Sure! I owe you big time after what you did for me." He took his plate to the sink and rinsed it off.

"I have a couple of pies for the boys at HQ. Can you deliver them for me?"

"Oh yeah no problem! Just let me go grab my wallet and I'll take the pies over there for you. Can you label them?"

"Of course."

The two met up out front and Flora put the pies into a basket on a bicycle. They said their farewells and Derian headed off with the promise to be back. Flora waved at him as he rode away.

"Silly girl…" She muttered as she walked to her bakery.

"I have a lead!" Markus said gleefully as he walked into the investigation room.

Riza looked at him with a smile. "That's wonderful. Now all we need is for the Brigadier General to get here with Colonel Walsh."

It was at that moment that said alchemist strode inside, with two talkative blonds behind him. The seemed to be in a heated discussion about what a horse would look like blue. Not just any kind of horse either. A mustang.

"I'm telling you it wouldn't look anything like him! Horses are too magnificent to look like that bastard!" The young Colonel shouted.

"And _I'm_ telling _you_ that it would look just like him! Acting all high and mighty!" Ed retorted

"Is this another size issue, Elric?"

"Damn it, Walsh! I told you to shut up about my height!"

Markus looked between the two arguing, and chuckled. "Morning, Colonel! Who's this?"

"Good Morning, Major. This is the arrogant and vertically challenged Edward Elric."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PUNY LITTLE RUNT?"

Roy sighed and looked at Riza. "Will he _ever_ change?" He asked as the two behind him continued to bicker.

She responded gently, "Not likely. Major Weber says he found a lead though."

"Alright then. Time to intervene." He went and stood behind the blond nuisances. "Alright ladies, lets not start a cat fight. I believe the Major has some important information pertaining to the case."

The room quieted as everyone settled down. Markus got up and opened up a folder. He flipped through it trying to find the proper page and when he did he cleared his throat.

"Ms. Flora Jenkins. A widow with a bakery in the eastern part of the city. She made a report last night about a little girl who had attacked a young man. I think she might be able to tell us what we need to know."

"Flora?" Maes said incredulously. "Dear sweet Auntie Flora?"

"Yeah," Markus responded. "You know her?"

"Know her?" Roy scoffed. "She was practically raised him when he was in the academy."

Maes smiled. "She still sends me pies and cookies! She even sends some to Mustang. I hope she's okay."

"Well she was able to report the incident to us, so I'm sure she's fine." Markus said tying to assure the Colonel of his caretaker's safety.

"Oh, yeah I guess your right. Heh heh silly me. Well lets not waste any time on this lead."

"Yeah. But what about my leg?" Ed said from the couch.

Roy sighed. "Right we forgot about that… Lieutenant Colonel!"

"Yes sir?" Riza asked.

"Where can we find the mechanic that fixed Fuhrer Grumman's car?"

Riza pondered for a moment. "Well I believe her shop is on Jordana Avenue."

"Perfect right down the street!"

Ed grumbled. "What's a car mechanic gonna know about automail?"

"Quit your whining." We'll stop there on our way, I'll drop you and Walsh off at the shop, and we'll get some directions to Flora's new bakery. Then when you two are done, we'll pick you up and head out to our lead."

Before anyone could argue, Roy walked out of the room with Riza and Markus right behind him. Maes reluctantly helped Ed walk out to the car. Markus sat in the back in between the blond hot heads, and Roy sat up front with Riza driving.

After five minutes of talking about Flora's famous peanut butter cookies, they arrived outside a dingy, little, one story building with dusty windows and a faded sign. It read: _**"O'Brian Auto-Haus"**_.

"Um, Mustang… Are sure this is the right place to find an _automail_ mechanic? I mean not some average run of the mill mechanic will be able to handle this level of craftsmanship." Maes said half heartedly insulting Roy's intelligence, or lack there of, of automail.

"Hm. Why don't you look through the windows." He replied smoothly. Sure enough there were a few pieces of automail sitting on a display. A couple of legs, a couple of hands, and the occasional normal prosthetic.

"Oh…" Maes helped Ed out of the car and turned to look back at Roy.

"I'll be back in an hour." With that he sped off.

The sound of bell ringing woke the girl sleeping on the counter. She looked up startled, a set reading glasses askew on her freckled face and a book clasped in a metal hand. She pushed a few strands of red hair out of her face and looked at the two men stepping in awkwardly, one helping the other.

"Hey there! Welcome to my shop, how can I help you?" She asked, taking the glasses off her face.

"Well I need to have my leg looked at. It's been really slow over the past couple of days and it got really bad today."

"Oh. Well that's no problem go ahead and sit on the couch and put the leg up. I'll go grab my tools." With that she turned and went through the door behind the counter.

Ed sat down and put his left leg up on a near by stool. The young lady came out of the other room, a pair of work gloves on and a tool box in her hands. She set the tool box down and grabbed the reading glasses off the table.

"Alright let's see what we're working with here. Please take off your boot and roll up your pant leg."

Ed did as he was told and set his leg back down. The girl put the reading glasses back on her face to get a better look at the leg.

"This is very fine craftsmanship. It seems to be on the same level of Mr. Garfiel, but it's not his style. Who made it?" A look of awe appeared on her face and grew the more she examined the leg.

"Well actually my wife made it for me. It was a wedding present. Maybe you've heard of her maiden name, Rockbell?"

"Miss _Winry_ Rockbell?" She asked, excitement and surprise in her voice.

"Yep. That's her alright!" Ed said cheerfully.

"I have one of her models on display. She's become really famous back home." With that she opened up a panel on the side of the leg and took a look.

"Aha! There's your problem. You need a couple of replacement parts and another piece needs to be cleaned. We might have to take it off to work on it though."

"Damn… Well I guess I'm fine with that."

After a little hard work, the leg was pulled free, leaving the port bare and leaving Ed sweating. She set the leg down on the counter and got an ice pack out. She tossed it to Maes and told him to put it on Ed's leg where the skin met the metal.

"Oh wow… I almost forgot to introduce myself. My name is Lynne. What are your names?"

"I'm Colonel Maes Walsh. This is Warrant Officer Edward Elric."

"Nice to meet you both. I should be done with your leg in about twenty minutes."

Lynne turned the radio on to a classical music station and began work on the automail. Maes tapped his foot to the waltz like music and Ed relaxed. Just like she said, about twenty minutes later, she was done with the leg.

"Brace yourself. This is gonna hurt. A lot." She said, lining the leg up with the port.

Ed gripped the sides of his chair and his jaw visibly clenched. The leg went in and Ed groaned, trying not to cry out as the sensitive nerves were connected. The redhead finished screwing everything back into place and turned to Maes.

"What about you, can I help you with anything, vehicle, automail, a glass of water?"

"Uh… Well if you could take a look that would be nice. I haven't been up to Briggs for a check up in a while, so I think that might be helpful."

"Sure. I'd be glad to." After taking a look and fawning over the quality of the leg and foot, she inspected the insides and looked at the wires.

"Nothing too bad. The leg is in very good condition. Your foot may need a couple of replacement wires in a few days. Come back to me or head up to Briggs and have it checked out. Please hand me that spray bottle."

He handed her the bottle filled with a powdery looking mixture. She sprayed it onto his foot and polished it until it looked new. She then did the same thing to his leg.

"That should do it. I'd polish yours too, Mr. Elric, but I don't know if your wife would like other people shining your leg." She smiled warmly at them.

"Heh… I think you're right." He respond

"Well thanks for the check up. I'll stop by tomorrow after work, but for now," he turned to Edward "Are you done whining, Elric? Roy is going to be here any minute and I don't feel like dealing with attitude because you're moping in the corner."

"I'm not moping!" He shouted.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." He turned back to Lynne. Once again thank you for the help, and just send the bill to the desk of Brigadier General Roy Mustang, and please be sure to add fees to compensate for your rush." Maes said trying to push Roy further into debt.

She giggled and tucked the pair of glasses into her shirt pocket. "I'll be sure to do that. Good luck with whatever it is you soldiers do."

With that the two blonds walked out of the shop and headed for the car parked outside. They got in and the car sped off to the eastern part of the city where, hopefully, there would be an answer to who this deadly little girl was.


	7. Worst Nightmare

_**DISCLAIMER**_

_**If you are really stupid enough to think that we own FMA, then you must be three years old. We don't own anything except for our original characters and story arcs. Most pairings, if any will be OCxOC possibly OCxAl. May or may not happen. WARNINGS: Contains material some viewers might not find suitable. Most chapters rated T. Other chapters will have a separate warning and will be rated M.**_

* * *

><p>A voice came from the shadows, "Why didn't you kill the boy?"<p>

"I'm sorry, Papa," The young girl replied. "He wasn't a soldier. You told me not to kill the innocent people."

"That boy has seen the Gate! He could discover us and our plans would be ruined!" A pair of glowing red orbs were seen in the darkness.

"I will finish the job then." Her hand morphed into a butcher knife. The man reached his own hand out of the darkness and patted the child's head.

"Good girl. Make me proud." He turned away from her, the glowing eyes disappearing. "Oh… and find your brother. I need him in order to carry out my plans for Amestris."

"Yes sir!"

The group arrived at Flora Jenkins' Bakery, the sweet smell of pastry in the air.

"Wow this brings back memories" Maes said whilst exiting the car.

"Yeah , you always used to come here when you skipped your classes at the academy." Roy said poking fun at the young colonel.

"I...I did no such thing!" Maes said defensively. "Anyway we better make sure Ms. Flora is ok." He responded trying to change the topic before Roy could embarrass him further.

He promptly left the car and strolled up to the door. He waited for the rest of the group to catch up a bit before he opened the door. The sound of a bell alerted the woman behind the counter.

"Well well! Look who's here!"

"Hi Auntie Flora!" He smiled warmly at his mother figure. Flora went around the counter and gave him a great big hug, managing to lift him off the ground.

"Choking! Not breathing!"

"Oops! Sorry dear." She set him down, allowing him to gasp for air.

Markus held the door open and Roy and the others walked inside. "Hello Ms. Jenkins." Roy said with one of his famous women wooing smirks.

"Hello Roy~ I assume that your not here to pay off little Maes's tab are you?" Mr. Jenkins asked jokingly as she moved to the front of the counter.

Ed interjected, "This cheap bastard? Not a chance."

"Oh? You're one to talk, Ed, considering you still haven't paid me one cen of the 520 that you owe me." Roy smirked remembering the promise that was made over half a decade ago.

Flora giggled. "Now, now boys. Settle down. Go ahead and have a seat and I'll bring over some cookies. Then we'll talk." She turned back to her adopted nephew. "Maes, be a dear and change the sign to 'closed'.

"Yay, Cookies!" Maes said childishly then turned quickly to flip the sign from 'open' to 'closed'.

The military officers sat at long wooden table. Flora walked out of the kitchen holding a large plate covered with multiple types of cookies.

"Be careful~ They're very hot." She stated as she set the plate on the table.

Paying no mind to the warning, Maes grabbed the first peanut butter cookie he saw and took a big bite.

"Ow! HOT!" He yelped, his tongue burning.

"She told you to wait, dummy." Markus snickered at his commanding officer.

"Shut up! They're best when they're fresh! Soft and gooey and they melt in your mouth. Try one!" Maes responded, holding the steaming hot peanut butter cookie in front of his new subordinate's face.

The smell surrounded Markus's nose "I-I guess one bite couldn't hurt." Maruks replied as pulled the cookie from Mae's hand. He took a slow deliberate bite and his bright blue eyes sparkled with delight.

"This is the best thing I've ever eaten!" He cried joyously, forgetting his manners.

"See you can always trust me!" Maes said in a 'look-at-how-awesome-I-am' tone of voice.

"Can you two keep the flirting at a minimum?" Roy said in his usual condescending tone. "We are here for information. Not cookies." He added firmly as he picked up a cooling chocolate chip cookie.

The Brigadier General turned his attention back to Ms. Jenkins. "Now then, Flora. Can you tell us about the attack you reported last night?"

"Oh my… It was awful, Mustang. I had just finished making some bread and I looked out the window to see a young lad about this high running down the alley." She held her hand up to the height of her armpit. "He was being chased down by a little girl. In a dark pink dress and a big hat."

Ed's face held nothing but shock. "A little girl? How old?"

"She must have been no more than four years old! She was even smaller than the lad!"

Maes finished a bite of cookie. "So what happened to him?"

"She threw some knives or something at him and pinned him to the fence by his jacket… Hold on let me get it for you." She went through a door and came right back with a small denim jacket with large holes in the sleeves. After tossing it to Roy she continued.

"She walked up to him slowly. All I could here was him shout, 'I don't even know you!' The continued to talk for a bit and then she looked up at him. Her eyes were just glowing red! She said something else and then removed him from the fence. As he fell to the ground, the little girl disappeared."

Riza looked over at Roy. "That's quite a story, isn't it sir?"

"Yes… It is…" He stared at the jacket's holed sleeves.

Ms. Jenkins added, "After I was sure she was gone, I went to help him. I brought him in and fed him dinner. He looked starving! Said he'd been travelling looking for someone. Been travelling ever since he was nine. Lost a couple of limbs in his travels it seems. Said his name was Derian."

"Where is he now?" Markus asked politely.

"He went into town to deliver a couple of pies to you boys down at HQ. He said he was going to look around town after he was done. He promised he'd be back for lunch though."

Riza pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. "Could you describe in detail what the girl and boy looked like?"

"Of course. The little girl was probably about 3'7". She had a big sun hat on, red eyes, dark skin, and light coloured hair. She wore a dark pink sun dress and had no shoes on."

Flora waited for Hawkeye to finish writing before she continued on. "As for Derian, he was 4'6". Both of his legs were prosthetics that went to the top of the thigh. He had an eye patch, short black hair under a blue hat, and his left eye was dark blue. His skin was a peachy colour, and his ears were pierced."

Riza turned to Markus. "Thank you, Ma'am. Major Weber, please use this description to sketch out the two children."

"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel." He took the pen and paper from Riza and began to sketch out a couple of detailed faces on the paper, asking questions about one thing or another until he had two nicely drawn images that looked similar to the real thing.

Flora confirmed the pictures accuracy. "My my what a talented young man."

"Thanks, Ms. Jenkins." He smiled and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Roy headed for the door, "Thank you for your time, Flora."

"And thanks for the cookies!" Maes chirped in. The group left the bakery and made their way back to Central Command.

As the car turned the corner, a little girl with a big hat covering her face stepped out of the alley and made her way inside the bakery.

"Where is the boy?" She shouted at Flora.

"You! What are you doing in here? Get out!" She pointed angrily at the door.

"Tell me where he went! Now!" The little girl held her right hand out to her side.

"He's gone! Left an hour ago and he's never coming back!"

"You're lying!" Suddenly the girl's hand flashed with red light as it transformed into an axe. Flora fled to the safety of the next room, with the Ishvalan child hot on her trail. She backed into a corner with no escape in sight.

"Now tell me were he is, or lose your life." Another flash of light and the axe became a short sword that started at the elbow joint.

"My God, child. What the devil are you?" Flora curled into herself.

The child smirked. "I am a perfect being, in other words, your worst nightmare." With that she lunged forward.

Derian knocked on the office door. It has the words 'Brigadier General Roy Mustang' written in fancy gold script. The door was opened by a smiling young man with large square glasses on his face.

"Hi there!" He greeted with delight. "Can I help you with something?"

Derian thought for a moment. "Uh… I think so. I'm here to deliver these pies to Mr. Mustang. Are you him?" He held out the tow boxes in his hand.

The man smiled wider and chuckled. "No, I'm not Mustang. My name is Second Lieutenant Kain Fuery. I'll make sure the Brigadier General gets these though." Kain took the boxes from the boy and set them inside.

"Anything else you need?"

"Yeah could you tell me where I can find Colonel Walsh's Office?"

"Sure. No problem. It's right down the hall, take a right, third door on the left." After dropping off the other pies with a scary blonde woman, Derian decided to snoop around. He took his hat off and let long black hair fall out of it.

"I just don't understand." Ed fumed. "How could a little girl be the source of all this trouble?"

"I don't know Mr. Elric…" Markus responded.

Roy looked back at them from his passenger seat. "We've seen a lot of things, Edward. This shouldn't surprise you."

The car pulled into small parking lot and the group of five headed inside the large building, talking about the day's events. Said group made their way back to Mustang's office. It was then that Maes decided he needed a break from all the seriousness. He strolled down the hallway, heading for his office, when he noticed a flash of black and purple down the opposite hallway.

Maes followed the blur of dark colours down the corridor until the figure stopped at an intersecting hallway. It appeared to be a girl. Her dark hair was long and ended messily at the small of her back. She was wearing men's clothing, and had a purple hat clutched in her hand.

As he approached the girl, it dawned on him that she shouldn't be here. With her short stature, she had to have been no older than twelve, maybe thirteen. She realised that she was being watched and turned around. Her face was definitely that of a child, she had her hair in her face and it was covering what appeared to an eye patch over her right eye. The other eye, was filled with determination and a tinge of fear.

"Well, well. What is this we have here?" Maes asked with a hint of sarcasm.

The fear in her eye disappeared and was replaced with annoyance. "First of all, I'm not a this. My name is Eiren. Second of all, isn't is polite to introduce yourself first?"

Maes smirked. "Well, Miss Eiren, I do believe manners shouldn't count when dealing with a trespasser. This area is for military personnel only."

Annoyance quickly turned to anger. "I don't care! I'm here looking for somebody important and if you don't tell me where I can find the stupid State Alchemists, I'm going to kick you in the face!"

_'What if she's working with the little girl that's been killing people?'_ He thought to himself.

"Well then." He said, with a no nonsense tone, as he picked her up by the shirt collar. "You can get out of here, pipsqueak. Military. Personnel. _Only_."

She glared and growled at him. "This is me angry!" With that she kicked him between the legs. A squeak came out of his mouth as he dropped her and fell to his knees.

"And this is me keeping my promise!" Her foot connected with his chin, and he hit the wall behind him.

"Why you little…" She ran out of the building as fast as she could, leaving Maes with a broken jaw and a broken ego.

* * *

><p>Authors Note: This one is a little short. But I felt it was a good place to stop the chapter. And if you haven't guessed by now, YES. The little girl is a homunculus. Double spaced spots are to separte the scene breaks. R&amp;R please. :)<p> 


	8. Shared Secrets

_**DISCLAIMER**_

_**If you are really stupid enough to think that we own FMA, then you must be three years old. We don't own anything except for our original characters and story arcs. Pairings are OCxOC and Canon.**_

_**May or may not happen. WARNINGS: Contains material some viewers might not find suitable. Most chapters rated T. Other chapters will have a separate warning and will be rated M.**_

* * *

><p>After explaining why his face was broken, and why he was walking funny, Colonel Maes decided to head back to his own office for some peace and quiet.<p>

"Stupid girl… I swear I am going to make her pay," he fumed as he walked back down the hall.

To his surprise, Major Weber was already in the office, going over paperwork at his new desk. His face was calm and he appeared to be in deep thought. The colonel just watched, not wanting to interrupt, but also intrigued. Markus seemed so mature for a boy of 15. Said boy's trance seemed to be broken as he looked up.

"Hello, Colonel." He greeted, his calm face returning to a boyish smile.

"Ah… Yes, hello, Major… Listen about the other day; I'm sorry for snapping at you so much. I think we got off on the wrong foot."

"I believe you're right. Why don't we start over?" Markus suggested.

"Sure. I'll start. Hello, Major. I'm Colonel Maes Walsh."

"Nice to meet you, Colonel. I'm Major Markus Weber. It will be an honour to be your subordinate." The two shook hands and Maes went back to his desk.

"So… Steelfist, huh? How did you get that name?" He asked as he sat down.

"Well, I work with lightweight steel gauntlets to perform transmutations. I got the idea from Lieutenant Colonel Armstrong. The key difference, while he focuses on strength with stone gloves, I focus on accuracy with steel and other metals like it." Markus explained.

"Wow. Sounds very nice. What type of research are you being funded for?" Maes was intrigued.

"I work on coming up with the lightest steel that I can, and finding different types of steel mixtures for more proficient work. What about you? I mean obviously you have some amazing skill to be a Colonel this young."

"Well being the Quickblade Alchemist, I make weaponry, mostly swords and knives, very quickly by manipulating the metal to mix in different ways. My funded research is developing different blades and bullets." Maes finished with a flourish of his hand and an annoyed look on his face, almost as if he hated his job.

"Wow!" Markus exclaimed. "You make all that?"

"Yeah. It's not too difficult unless it's mass production."

"So how do you-" Before Markus could finish his question, Edward nearly slammed the door open.

"Major! Colonel! We have a problem!"

Flora Jenkins was sitting in a hospital bed, barely alive. She was awake, but she looked traumatized. Her leg was in a cast and her chest and neck were wrapped in bandages.

"Aunt Flora!" Maes darted over to the side of the bed, Ed and Markus staring in shock. "Wh-what happened?"

She looked up at him with fearful eyes. "That g-girl… Maes… She tried to kill me."

"What did she do to you?" His eyes filled with tears. "Are you okay?"

Her eyes softened the fear dissipating and her voice turning motherly. "I'm quite all right, dear. Don't worry about me."

"How can I not worry?" The tears made their way down his cheek as he held her hand. "You're all banged up because of some serial killer."

"Trust me, Maes. You're the one I'm worried about. Roy and your friends too. Not to mention poor Derian... I hope he's alright."

They were silent for some time. Roy knocked on the door. "Edward, Major Weber, Walsh, meet Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye and me back at my office when the three of you are done."

"Oh… Yes sir." Markus responded. Roy left the room, and the three boys alone to talk with Flora.

Flora gave them all a grim smile as she beckoned the boys to sit down. "I'm supposing you'll want a report about all this." She said with a sigh.

"Y-yeah," Maes responded, regaining his composure.

"About five minutes after you guys left, a strange little girl entered my shop demanding that I tell her where Derian was. She threatened to kill me." Flora said in a soft tone, just barely above a whisper.

"T-Then what happened, Aunt... Ms Jenkins?" He asked trying to contain his new found fury, and sadness that he couldn't seem to adjust to.

"Well, you probably won't believe a word I say from this point on, but I assure you, it is true." Flora said in a slightly louder, but less self-assured tone.

Ed grinned. "Trust me, Ms. Jenkins. You can't surprise me."

"Well, like I said, she ordered me to tell her where Derian went. When I refused, all of the sudden there was a flash of red and she had an axe! I thought she might have transmuted it, but there wasn't any evidence anywhere to show where she got the material from. I got scared and ran into the back room, but she followed me. She cornered me and the red light happened again then the axe became a short sword, like those maiden knives from Xing." Flora explained.

"What happened then?" Markus asked.

"She broke my leg, stabbed me in the stomach, and shoulder, and cut up a bit of my everywhere else. I grabbed one of the knives off the counter and got her in the chest. She stopped moving, so I assumed she was dead, I was losing a lot of blood and fainted. I woke up right before the medics arrived. The girl was gone. Then they rushed me over here."

Markus, who was taking notes, finished writing. He and Maes looked over at Ed. He had a look on his face as if he had just realized something horrible.

"You alright, Mr. Elric?" Markus asked concerned.

"Ms. Jenkins." Ed stated without looking up.

"Yes dear?" She replied.

"This girl… did you get a better look at her?"

"Yes. A much better look in fact."

"Did she have a tattoo?"

"I saw a picture on her forehead. It might have been a tattoo. It was a picture of a dragon or a serpent-"

"Swallowing its' own tail?" He finished for her.

"Yes… Exactly…"

He got up and leant down close and whispered just loud enough for only her to hear, "The weapons were coming off her body… weren't they?"

She nodded her head and before she could say anything, he was out the door.

"Edward!" Maes shouted after him. "Where are you going?"

It was too late. He was already halfway out of the hospital building. He ran as fast as he could, trying to find some way to get back to HQ. He didn't pay attention and smacked his face against a broad chest, bouncing back and falling to the ground.

"Jeez! Doesn't anyone in this town watch where their going?" He shouted to no one in particular. He heard a chuckle and looked up; ready to rip whoever had gotten in his way a new one. To his surprise he saw First Lieutenant Mikkel Jenson from the night before.

"Oh… It's you…"

"Who were you expecting? God?"

"No. Not really… Well maybe… I don't know. All I do know is that I need to get back to HQ pronto."

"Well I was going to visit the Colonel's caretaker. I heard she was in the hospital. I guess I can take you there if you really need me to."

"Thanks! You're a life saver."

"Ah-ah-ah~" He moved his index finger back and forth. "First you have to apologize."

"Oh... I'm sorry for smacking into you." He sped through the apology, as if to indicate exactly HOW much of a hurry he was in.

"That'll do. Now let's get going." They got into his car and sped off towards HQ.

The ride was quiet for most of the time. Mikkel decided to speak up.

"You'll have to repay me for this somehow, you know. You look like you have a strong back and legs."

"Now listen here you! I'm married and I'll have you kno-"

"It's not like that!" He interrupted. "I have a very heavy, very large dresser I need to move so I can make room for a new bed. I was thinking maybe you could help me move it."

"Oh. Yeah. No problem. Can we work out the finer details later?"

"Sure, I'll talk to you about it tomorrow. Alright, we're here. Now go on and hurry."

"Thanks! Bye!" He slammed the car door shut as he took off to get to Mustang's office. He burst into the room in typical Ed style. However, his face was a distinct mixture of fear and anger.

"Edward. You're here quicker than expected." Roy remarked. "Are you still uppity about hospitals?" He chuckled until looked up and noticed the expression on Ed's face.

"What happened?" He asked.

"The little girl that's been attacking soldiers… She's not human."

"Don't be ridiculous. You're just overreacting."

"I'm not overreacting, Roy."

'_This _must_ be serious. He never calls me by my first name.'_

"If she's not human than what is she?"

Ed looked around the room. He closed the door, turned off all the lights, shuttered the windows, and got close to the desk.

"Ms. Jenkins saw a tattoo on her forehead… An ouroboros tattoo." Roy's eyes went wide.

Ed's voice dropped to a whisper. "The weapons used against her came off of the girl's body and even though Flora thought she had killed her, the girl was gone before the medics arrived."

Roy looked at Ed through the darkened room. "This isn't good. Now not only does it involve Central, but all of Amestris. Possibly the surrounding countries too."

"So what do we do, Brigadier General?"

"We find and eliminate all of them."

Markus looked over at Maes who had gone silent. His face was pensive and also held what appeared to be annoyance or possibly even suspicion.

"Are you alright, sir?" When he didn't receive an answer, Flora laughed.

"What's so funny, Ms. Jenkins?" Markus directed his attention to her.

"That's his 'thinking face'. He goes through thoughts in his head. It's hard to get his attention sometimes, but you just have to know the right tricks. Hand me my rucksack, please, Major."

He grabbed the shabby bag that was hanging off of a chair. He unclasped it and handed it to her. She thanked him and took out a small towel filled with cookies. She handed one to Markus and pulled out a second.

"Oh Maes~" she called with a cheerful voice. "Do you want a cookie?"

His deep thought broke and he looked up and around the room. "Huh? Cookies? For me? Awesome!" He hopped up out of the chair and thanked his aunt as she handed him one.

"I think we should go, Colonel. We still have to catch up to Warrant Officer Elric."

"Yeah. We'll see you in a couple of days, Aunt Flora."

"Goodbye boys! Good luck!" She called as the left.

When the boys arrived at Mustang's office, they were shocked to see Roy, Riza, and Ed sitting in the dark.

"What the hell's going on?" The young colonel asked abruptly.

"Close the door. Lock it too." Ed responded.

"That _doesn't_ answer my question, Elric."

"Just do what he says, Walsh." Roy snipped. After doing so, Maes and Markus sat down across from the other three.

"Now listen. Normally I wouldn't involve you in this. But seeing as this is going to require some assistance, we are going to tell you two a secret."A look in the dark haired man's eyes told the two that if they ever said a word about what they were about to learn, they would pay for it with their lives.

Riza was the first to speak. "Edward, if you would."

Ed nodded his head and looked to Maes and Markus. "Colonel, Major. We are currently facing a monster and quite possibly more than one."

Roy was the next to speak. "The girl described by Mrs. Jenkins is what's known as a homunculus. I'm certain you boys have heard the term, being well-read alchemists."

"I'm familiar with the term." Maes said.

"As am I." Markus added.

"Over the next couple of days," Roy began. "We will be teaching you all of our knowledge on these inhuman creatures. But first, I will be assigning each of you a task. Colonel Walsh."

"Yes sir?"

"You will begin tracking this girl and finding out where she is and if she has any accomplices. Major Weber, you will be assisting him."

"Got it." They responded in unison.

"Ed, you will be watching Selim Bradley. We need to find out if he is the cause of this or not. Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye will be assisting you actually... you might need your brother too. Given your... condition." Ed glared at him.

"What will you be doing sir?" Riza asked.

"I will speak with the Führer about all of this."

Markus stood up. "Let's go, Colonel. We have a lot to do if we're going to track this girl."

"Alright, Major." Maes responded. Then he turned to Roy. "See you at home, sir?"

Roy nodded his head and Markus lead the Colonel back to the office. When they arrived they found the Xingese man and Lieutenant Colonel Mortizzi busy at their work.

Maes began to bark orders at them. "Lieutenant Wei, I need three maps, One of Amestris, and two of Central."

"Yes, sir!" With that the one identified as 'Wei' left the room to find the maps.

"Mortizzi! I need coffee and the finished paperwork off my desk and I need it yesterday."

"Right away, sir." She responded, as she also left the room.

"So, Colonel," Markus said. "What makes our 'team' so special?"

"Well we all have certain skills. For example, Alexis Mortizzi is an excellent gunman. Nothing to boast about but she gets the job done. My good friend, Mikkel Jenson, is my information specialist. The guy that just left, Yun Wei, he is our technical man. He likes to work with radios and is always coming up with little mechanical devices. Then there's you and I. Obviously we use alchemy to our advantages. And then there's the fact that all of us come from different places. Mortizzi is from Aerugo, Mikkel is Ishvalan, Yun is from Xing, and I was born in Drachma. Don't tell too many people about that though. Only the upper ups are supposed to know that."

Mikkel appeared in the doorway. "A pretty well put together team then, isn't it, sir? Especially if we can keep each other's secrets."

"Hello, Lieutenant Jenson!" Markus greeted.

"Hey there, Mikkel. What are you doing here, didn't you finish your work early?"

"Not today. I just got back from the hospital. I was visiting Flora. Is there anything you need, sir?

"No. Everything is just dandy at the moment." A hand set itself on Mikkel's shoulder. "Who's that there with you?"

It was then that Alphonse peeked his head past. "Hey there, Colonel!" He greeted cheerfully.

"I was bringing some lunch to Ed and I remembered you wanted to see some of the plant research. I brought those with me too." He squeezed past Mikkel's large frame and set the files he was holding on Maes's desk. Mikkel went back to his own desk and got back to work.

"Thank you very much, Alphonse. I think I might read these tonight."

"You're welcome, Colonel. Oh… um…" He gestured for said colonel to come closer, which he did.

"Yes?"

Alphonse cupped a hand around Maes's ear and whispered something that only he could hear. When they parted from their stance, Maes nodded his head. Alphonse's face became grim.

"Oh, man… I think I'm going to have to speak with my brother a bit more. I'll see you guys later!" He ran out of the door, heading for Mustang's office.

"What was _that_ all about, Maes?" Mikkel asked.

"Haha! He was just asking about some girl. Guess that means he's out of my league, right?" He and Mikkel began to laugh. Markus just stood there, looking confused.

"What does that mean?"

"I'll tell you some other time, kid." Mikkel responded.

"Yeah," Maes added. "Some other time."

"What? No! Come on, guys!" The other two just laughed at their shared secret.


	9. You Break It, You Buy It

_**DISCLAIMER**_

_**If you are really stupid enough to think that we own FMA, then you must be three years old. We don't own anything except for our original characters and story arcs. Pairings are OCxOC and Canon as well as some Parental!RoyEd.**_

_**WARNINGS: Contains material some viewers might not find suitable. Most chapters rated T. Other chapters will have a separate warning and will be rated M.**_

* * *

><p>Over the course of the next couple of days, Mustang and his 'team' began developing plans so that they could carry out their tasks. Roy was practicing what he was going to say to Grumman, and Riza and Ed, with the help of Alphonse, were deciding the best way to approach Selim Bradley. As for Markus and Maes, they were trying to figure out where the homunculus was going to strike next, and the best way to stop her. While sitting in the young Colonel's office they were mapping out each place that she had attacked someone and picking possible places that she could be hiding.<p>

It was quiet in the office, but it was comforting. There was no butch woman growling about men and their stupidity, Yun was getting files, and it was Mikkel's day off.

Markus looked around the room, taking in the sight for a bit. The walls were a warm brown color that reminded him of a bar of milk chocolate. The walls were trimmed with a dark brown crown molding. There was one large window on the east side of the room, also trimmed with the dark brown color.

Markus turned his attention to the west wall. Hanging on it was a large bulletin board with a map of Amestris pinned to it. There were smaller notes also pinned around it. Beneath the board was a small bookcase filled with books about law, politics and other things Markus wasn't interested in. The floors were covered in a very nice, and very clean, red carpet.

Looking up, he noticed that each of the five desks in the room were different. Yun's desk was made of birch. Atop it was a clip board with some paperwork attached to it, as well as a photograph of what appeared to be a younger Yun and a man that could be his father. The woman, Alexis, had a maple desk. She also had a photo of her and her father as well as one of her and another woman. Mikkel had an oak desk. It had a few office supplies and a framed photo of him and Flora Jenkins. His own desk was made of walnut all it had on it was a name plate and his pocket watch as well as the map he was working on. Colonel Maes's desk was cherry. Not much was on it except for paperwork and a fancy pen.

It then occurred to Markus that the colonel was not in his chair. He looked forward and saw that said colonel was looking over the map on his desk. Maes finished his observation and walked back to his desk. He had a noticeable limp, but he didn't seem to be in any pain. It wasn't the first time Markus had seen him limping that day, either. He decided it was time to break the silence in the room.

"Sir," Markus spoke up. "You seem to be limping around a lot today. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, it's my leg," He replied. "I need a tune-up but I can't get to Briggs anytime soon. I'm going to have to go to that one girl down the street."

"Sir, are you ready to go?" Yun's voice came from the door.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Maes answered. "Markus, can you keep working on this while I'm gone?"

"No problem, Colonel." He responded.

"See you in a bit, then. Let's go, Yun." The two young men left the office, and headed for the exit of the building. However, they were stopped by a very large man in the hallway. He had a big, blond mustache and a mostly bald head with one blond curl.

"Hello Colonel Walsh! What a nice surprise! I was just on my way to see if you and Mustang were attending the Armstrong Family Ball!"

"Ah… Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Armstrong… It's so… er… _nice_ to see you. About that Ball, you see, I'd _love_ to go-"

"Excellent! Then I will expect to see you, and a nice young lady to dance with, in your best dress clothes! Have a wonderful day!" With that, the lieutenant colonel went on down the hallway, off to bother Roy.

"Wait! No!" But it was too late. The large and boisterous man was already out of ear shot.

"Damn it." Maes sighed.

"What's wrong, sir?" Yun inquired. "Is it not an honour to be invited to one of the largest parties in Central?"

"It's not that, Wei. I'm just not the 'dressy-party-dancing-with-women' type of guy."

The two continued talking about the pros and cons of going to the Ball as they walked the mile and a half to the automail shop from the other day. When they arrived, the shabby sign seemed to have new paint, and the windows were clean.

"Guess that girl finally got this place cleaned up. I bet she's sleeping on the counter again." He chuckled.

Yun opened the door as Maes limped inside. To his surprise, he found the owner busy at work, scrubbing the main counter with vigor. She looked up and smiled, motioning for the two to sit down.

"I'll be with you in a minute." She looked back down and continued scrubbing. "I just need to finish this counter." The boys waited patiently. Maes decided to take a look around the room. The walls were a dark blue and the floor was hardwood. There were glass cases lining the walls, a display in the front bay window, and a few chairs. He saw that most of the merchandise was for cars. He also noticed that all of the automail was sorted and made by different people. There were parts from every area of Amestris, including Briggs.

He turned his attention to the shop owner herself. Her hair was pulled back out of her face and her tanned skin was covered in grime. Her white shirt sleeves were rolled up to show toned and scarred arms, one of which led to a metal hand. Lastly he looked at her face. It was covered with sweat, grime, and tons of freckles. Her brow was drawn downward with concentration, dark green eyes focused on a single spot on the counter.

Maes then looked over to Yun. Apparently, while the colonel was looking at everything in the store, Yun was focused entirely on the young lady, and more specifically, her chest.

"Wow…" He whispered. "Isn't she something…"

"A little love struck there, Yun?" He snickered.

The girl seemed to finish her work as she smiled wide and set her glasses on the now clean counter.

"Sorry about the wait," She said. "But it was time for some seasonal cleaning."

Maes flashed a winning smile at her. "It's quite alright Ms… um…"

"O'Brian. You can call me Lynne, though."

"Lynne! That's right. I'm sorry I forgot your name. I've just been through a lot of stress in the past couple of days."

"Oh it's okay. I don't think I remember your name either."

"Maes Walsh. Colonel Maes Walsh." He replied.

"Well then Colonel, why don't you go into the back room and change into these shorts so I can check on your legs." She handed him a pair of grey shorts and pointed to a door behind the counter. "Oh and please don't touch anything. It's my living space and I just finished cleaning everything in there earlier today."

"Alright, Lynne. I'll be right back, then." He went into the other room and Yun tried to start a conversation with Lynne.

"So… Miss O'Brian-"

"Oh, please call me Lynne. I don't like being called 'Miss'. It makes me feel all old."

"Sorry, Lynne. So where are you from?"

"I'm from Rush Valley. My brothers and I grew up there with our big family."

"Oh… that's nice. I've never had any siblings… it was just my father and me in Xing."

"Aw, you poor guy. To be honest I wish I was an only child, sometimes. The four of us had to share one bathroom."

"Haha! That is really funny. I would really enjoy hearing more about you. Perhaps over coffee?"

"I don't drink coffee," She motioned to her head. "It makes me kind of spazzy. But I'd love to have lunch, sometime."

Yun felt his heart flutter and all his words came out fast. "I'd love that thank you!"

Lynne giggled. "You're a little weird. But you're cute, so I'm not going to complain."

She kissed his cheek and watched his face turn three different shades of red. Maes came back out with the shorts on, his legs bared to the world.

"I hope you don't mind, but I set my pants and boots on that old wooden box by your bed."

"That's fine. Now sit down so I can get to work."Lynne pointed to a chair as she grabbed a tool box from behind the counter. She snatched her glasses off the countertop and plopped down onto a stool in front of the chair Maes had sat down in. He lifted his left leg and let her take a look at the metal foot.

"Oh, wow." She said.

"Is something wrong with it?" Maes asked.

"Well obviously, but that's not the thing. This metal is so light! I've never worked with anything like this before."

"Will you still be able to fix it?" Yun inquired.

"Oh yes. The problem here isn't in the metal, but in the wires and gears. I'll have to open it up but it shouldn't be too much of a problem." She turned her attention to the Colonel.

"Have you been doing regular maintenance?"

"To be honest, no. I haven't had the time to sit down and make sure everything is in the right place. I haven't even been able to polish it."

She gave him a reassuring smile. "No worries!" Lynne opened a panel on his right foot, examining the wires and gears. Then she moved on to the left leg. Her face grew grim as she saw more of the inner workings of his leg.

"It looks like you have a couple of blown wires. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to disconnect the nerves to fix it."

"Damn it, Jim."

"Umm, sir?" Yun asked uncertainly.

An annoyed grumble came from the colonel. "What is it Lieutenant?"

"Who's Jim?"

"Shut up, Yun." He would have said more, but it was at that moment that the redhead decided to disconnect the nerves in his leg. "Nnng. Ow."

"Sorry, but you should be paying attention." She stated while jiggling some wires.

"Right… So, Lynne, did you make any of these?"

"I wish. If I could make automail, I'd be working for Mrs. Elric in Rush Valley. I've studied a lot about automail, but I've only been able to fix them. I'm hoping that I can make one someday though. Speaking of Mrs. Elric, she should be dropping by sometime this week. Yesterday Mr. Edward came in carrying a girl. Apparently her automail gave out on her. We put in a rush order to his wife to get some replacements."

"Haha! I wish I could see that side of him. All I ever see is him either moping or making snarky conversation with Mustang."

"That sounds pretty comical. So what's it like working as a dog?"

"Not too bad really, sure people don't like us, but I'm not in the military to be liked. I'm in it so that I can do three things. Number one, I want to help stop this war. Two, I owe a debt to the military officer that saved my life, and three; I want to continue my alchemical research. I can't really do the third one without funding, which I can only get from being a State Alchemist."

Lynne nodded her head. "I guess it makes sense. What about you, Yun? Why are you in the military?"

"When I lived in Xing, my father was very poor, and we couldn't make a very good living. He had some liver problems and died a year after we moved to Central. The colonel's friend, Mikkel, convinced me to join the cadets, and he promised to give me a home. I live with him now. I also want to find my mother, I'm not sure where she is, but Mikkel promised to help me meet her."

"It sounds as if you two have been through an awful lot." She said somberly, attaching the last gear. "On three, alright?"

"Yeah." Maes gripped the sides of his chair as Lynne counted down.

"One… two… THREE!" She reconnected the nerves and flew back as his leg swung up wildly.

"There we go. Try her out while I go get some polish. If I can be honest, they really need it." As she went into the next room, Maes thrashed around a bit.

"God damn it. That hurts so fucking much!"

"Calm down, sir. Stop moving around so much." Yun said just as Maes leaned his chair back. He fell backwards and a loud crash was heard, much louder than a person falling to the floor should sound.

Yun looked in horror at the shattered metal that was once a special, and very fragile, piece of decorative fashion prosthetics. He looked back up as the sound of a door slamming against a wall resounded throughout the shop. Lynne looked from Yun's terrified face, to Maes backwards in a chair, to the broken metal on the floor. Her dark green eyes became filled with malice. Her eyebrows set themselves in a glare.

"What did you do to my merchandise?" The infuriated redhead said angrily, teeth gritting together.

"Oh, shit." The floored colonel stated. "I'm so sorry! I promise I'll pay to have it replaced!"

"You better damn it! That model costs 500,000 Cenz! It was going to pay off my rent and bills for the next three months! Not to mention it was going to feed me for a few weeks."

"500,000 Cenz? Listen! I don't have that kind of money on me!" He was flabbergasted.

"What about your military funding? Huh?"

"I can't spend it on that! Not to mention my paycheck is tiny!"

"You better do something then!" She picked him up by his shirt, surprising him by how strong she was.

"H-how about you open up a tab for me? I'll pay it back a little at a time."

"You better." Her eyes were dangerously narrow as she set the colonel down. She went towards the mess to pick it up.

"Jeez… This chick is crazy…" He whispered under his breath.

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

"Uhh… Nothing!"

"That's what I thought! Now get out of my store!" She opened the door and pointed outside

"Because I'm feeling so _generous_, I'll throw in this bottle of polish. Also on your tab." With that, she chucked a bottle into Maes's face, sending him flying into the street.

As Yun walked out he turned to face her, "Are we still on for our date tomorrow?" Lynne nodded in frustration as she slammed the door in his face.

"What a woman…" The lieutenant sighed, while rubbing his now sore nose.

"Yun, out of all the people I know, you have the _craziest_ taste in women!" Maes shouted. He picked the polish off of the street and rubbed his own hurt face. Behind them the 'Open' sign on the door flipped over to 'Closed'.

When he arrived back at his office, after changing into a new pair of pants and boots, the colonel had developed a large bump on his forehead. He was pleased, however, to find that the only other person in the office was Markus.

"My god that was exhausting." The colonel sighed as he plopped down into his desk.

"That bad, huh?" Markus inquired.

"Yes. My nerves were fucked with and now I owe 500,000 Cenz to that crazy O'Brian girl."

"Haha! Sounds like torture. I'm sure she didn't mean to hurt you."

Maes scoffed and picked up his pen. "Yeah right, and I'm the king of Aerugo."

"Say," Markus looked around the room. "Where did Lieutenant Wei go?"

"He and everyone else went to lunch. They need food and we need to keep working." His stomach rumbled in defiance.

Markus laughed shortly, took a sip of water, and looked back at the map. "It seems she's hit all the houses that have soldiers in the south east part of the city. Also, she's hit about half in the east side, including Ms. Jenkin's shop. She may be going in a counter clockwise circle."

The colonel stood behind the dark haired boy and examined the map. After thinking for a minute he leaned in.

"We'll put a couple of undercover patrol men in the area. Here, here, and here." Maes pointed to different points on the map from over Markus's shoulder.

'_Damn it… this guy sure smells good. He's really cute, not to mention sweet and naïve. Oh the things I could do to him. Ahh! FOCUS! Calm down, man. Just focus on work. Work… work… Markus… work!'_

"Sounds like a good plan, Colonel. Should I go inform the Brigadier General?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. You go do that, Major." He stood up from his leaning position, allowing Markus to get up with the map.

"You're going home in a while, right Colonel?" He asked at the door.

"Yeah I am. I have to be here early tomorrow."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow, sir." With that the Major left the room. The door clicked behind him softly and the room filled with the comfortable silence from before.

Maes sat back at his desk and promptly let his head fall down onto the cool cherry-wood surface.

"I'm an idiot."


	10. Mutual Hatred and Cute Coffee Girls

_**DISCLAIMER**_

_**WE DON'T OWN FMA OR FMA:BROTHERHOOD. We don't own anything except for our original characters and story arcs. Most pairings, if any will be OCxOC.**_

**_ WARNINGS: Contains material some viewers might not find suitable. Most chapters rated T. Other chapters will have a separate warning and will be rated M._****_  
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_Line breaks are in place because the chapter jumps back and forth to a few different perspectives.  
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><p>Three days had passed since the incident at the auto-shop. There had been no new attacks on the soldiers and all seemed peaceful at Central HQ. Morning came and went, as did the afternoon. As evening approached it seemed as if nothing was going wrong in the world, even though it was divided and warring. The day was normal for Roy Mustang, that is, until a young man in a military uniform walked through his office door. His long, black hair was tied back and his eyes were bright green and friendly looking, yet seemed to be hiding something.<p>

"Sir, I need the train tickets to Liore. They seem to be missing from my box." The young man said.

"Just who do you think you are coming in here without knocking?!" Roy shouted. He took a moment to look at the other. He then realized who it was.

"Oh, it's you, Walsh. Took the dye out of your hair, I see."

"Yeah, my hair kept coming out in clumps so I brought it back to black. It's not good for the oil in my hair to have all that hydrogen peroxide anyway." Maes replied.

"I would assume not…" Roy smirked as he imagined the young colonel entirely bald. "I had Fuery deliver them to your office. They should be on your desk by now. Which one of your subordinates are you taking with you?"

"Lieutenant Jensen, he's the only one I trust enough to travel with through the desert."

"Very well, I assume Lieutenant Colonel Mortizzi is in charge while you're gone?"

"Obviously. Also, I sent Lieutenant Wei to Southern HQ. Apparently there's an important ambassador of Xing there. He doesn't speak our language very well so I sent Yun to translate."

Roy took a moment to think before he said, "So Weber is going to be here with Ms. Mortizzi. Alright, I'll keep an eye on him. Knowing her, he'll be dead before you even leave the city."

"Don't worry about him today or tomorrow. He's got these days off, remember? I think he's in the city doing errands or something. Oh and I forgot to mention this, you have two angry blonds on their way in here." Maes snickered.

"What?!" Roy quickly looked around for an escape, but found it conveniently blocked by the newly raven haired Colonel.

"See you next week, General." He mock saluted and left just as Riza and Ed came through the door. One had a large stack of paper-work; the other had the rest of it.

Maes rounded the corner back to his office, snickering all the way. He peeked inside, where he saw the Lieutenant Colonel sitting at her desk with a sad expression.

He knocked on the door panel to alert her that he was there. "Are you alright?"

"I miss my family. I haven't seen them in six years. Now that we're at war with the surrounding countries, I can't even visit them." A tear moved down her face, even the toughest of men and women had to cry sometimes.

"I've never seen this side of you. Just don't worry about it. Things will get better, and I'm sure they are just fine. Your family is from the Southern part of Aerugo right? It's not like the war has passed very far into either country." He handed her a tissue.

"I know… Still, I worry. My brother never was the patient type and I'm afraid he might have joined the military back home. He _was_ always going on about it…" Her usually hardened expression became soft and the coldness in her eyes melted into a warm nostalgic trance as she wiped her face with the tissue.

"Well, you take care of the office while I'm gone. Major Weber won't be in for a couple of days, so you'll have the place all to yourself. I'm sure you can handle it."

"Of course, sir. Good luck in Liore, and be careful. Things may be peaceful now, but you never know when a riot will break-out there."

"I'll come back safely." He picked up the tickets from his desk. "Don't stay here too long, I'm sure Katarina wouldn't be happy with you."

A tinge of pink touched her cheeks and she glanced at the picture on her desk. Katarina was the woman of her dreams, her best friend and her true love too.

"I don't plan on staying long." She said quietly. "Tonight is important. I've saved six months pay for this night and nothing is going to ruin it."

"Good luck, Alexis." She rolled her eyes at her first name, preferring her middle one. "That one's a keeper. Mikkel and I will see you in a week or so. Please try not to kill Major Weber." He squeezed her shoulder and left the office, his footsteps growing duller the farther away he got.

The lieutenant colonel opened a drawer, reaching her hand into it. She pulled out a small, black, velvet box, a sweet smile gracing her features. She gave it a little kiss, put it away and closed the drawer, and went back to her work.

* * *

><p>Markus Weber was enjoying a quiet day in town. The usually warm summer air was cooled by a coming rain storm. Many shops were rushing to sell their produce and trinkets before the first drop of rain fell. Crisp ripe vegetables and shiny jewels were on either side of the crowded street. Markus had found everything he would need for the day, except potatoes. They seemed to be eluding him. He turned around to look at the other side of the street, but a flash of purple and black rushing past him nearly knocked him and his basket over.<p>

"What was that for?!" He shouted in the direction of the blur. His voice was drowned out by a clap of thunder and a siren coming from the middle of the city. It was the city's new storm warning. A year prior, an enormous black cloud had covered the city and the storm that came from it wiped out more than a dozen homes. The siren was so people could get to a safer place if their homes weren't ready for it.

Markus grabbed a bell pepper that had fallen out of his basket and headed across the street. This time, there was no blurs or people knocking him over. Finally finding the elusive potato stand, he bought a week's worth and made his way home. He arrived at his small, second-floor apartment in the north side of the city. It wasn't grand or flashy, it wasn't even decorated. It was a simple and plain three room building. There was a living room/kitchen as you open the front door, and a bedroom down a small hall with an attached bathroom.

He set the food down on the table and began putting things away. He glanced out the window as the rain descended across the city. Checking his pockets for change, he discovered enough to grab a hot coffee he set it down on the table next to the groceries. He quickly changed out of his military uniform and into some clothes more suited for the weather. A pair of black jeans, a dark blue sweater and some comfortable rain boots adorned him as he grabbed his keys. He pulled on his trench coat, grabbed an umbrella, and head back out the front door.

The coffee house, only being a few blocks away from the apartments, was a regular stop on the way to work for Markus. He managed to get under the awning just as the rain started falling. It was gentle for now, but he knew it would only get worse.

Inside, the rich smell of coffee beans and mocha wafted through the air filing his nostrils with pleasant warmth. The shop seemed deserted aside from a bubbly brunette barista behind the counter.

"Hey there, Markus! The usual, I'm assuming?" She gave him a big smile as he sat down.

"Yes please, Samantha. It's been a long week and I could really use a cup." She went over to the coffee machine and started it up.

"So where've you been? I haven't seen you in forever." She said as she hopped over the counter.

"I've been working on the murder cases. You know those soldiers that were killed? Well I have to work with a cocky brigadier general, a self absorbed colonel, a long time lieutenant, and an ex-state alchemist trying to figure out who's responsible."

"Wow, and I thought _I_ had problems. My dog is being a pain and won't stop pissing on the couch. My dad is furious."

The two laughed together as they waited for the brew to finish. When the coffee was done, Samantha jumped back over the counter and got a couple of cups. She pulled the lever that released the bitter drink and steam rose from the dark liquid. She set them on the counter, jumped over and set the cups on the table. Markus reached into his pocket for the change only to find it empty.

"I must have left my money on the table. Crap, sorry Sam."

"Don't worry about it, Markus. I'll take care of it this time." She gave him a toothy smile, dimples appearing on her cheeks.

Markus had seen Sam every morning, but he never took time to really look at all her features. Her eyes were a deep electric blue and her wavy brown hair flowed down her shoulders. Her figure was toned from what Markus assumed was gymnastics. She didn't have many curves but by the way she carried herself with confidence she might as well have had them.

"Uh… Thanks, Sam. I'll pay you back some other time." He felt his face heat up.

"No, I insist. This one is on me." Her smile grew wider, flashing pearly white teeth and pink gums.

Markus felt the warmth in his cheeks spread to his ears. He looked outside and saw the rain pound against the streets. Even though the weather was awful, he knew it was going to be a good night. Sam sat down next to him and they spent a couple of hours talking. Outside the rain was punishing anyone who dared to venture out in it.

* * *

><p>Eiren was just ten yards from the auto-shop when the rain started to fall. She surged forward trying to keep her balance on her temporarily wooden legs. She managed to get under the awning of the shop to catch her breath. She leaned against the door and let out a sigh. Her purple button-up was ruined and her shoes and the bottom of her pants were caked in mud.<p>

'_This rain is killing my ports. They won't stop aching._' Eiren adjusted the eye patch on her face to sit more comfortably. As she dropped her hand down the door swung inward and she fell to the floor.

"Whoops, my bad. Sorry Eiren." The redhead apologized, reaching a hand down to help the soaking girl. White sleeves pulled up to her elbows, and a dirty apron covering the rest of her.

"It's alright, Lynne." Eiren accepted the offered hand and let herself be helped inside. "It's raining cats and dogs out there!"

"I bet. Did you step in any poodles?" Lynne asked.

"Ha-ha very punny. Did my legs come in?"

"You bet! The maker herself is here too! She and Mr. Elric are in the back room talking."

The two girls sat and waited for a couple of minutes, talking about the recent events and their mutual dislike of Maes Walsh. The door to the back room opened and in walked Edward, in his favorite red shirt and a heavy suitcase in each hand. Trailing behind him was his wife of two years, Winry. She wore a simple light blue dress that complimented her eyes, and her hands were supporting a very pregnant stomach.

"Hi. You must be Eiren. I'm Winry it's very nice to meet you." She said as she sat across from her.

"It's nice to meet you, too. Ms. Winry. I'm eager to see my new legs." Eiren stood up and shook Winry's hand. "I'll be back in a second; I just have to go change in the back real quick."

Lynne grabbed the tool kit off her counter and set it down on a table next to the blonde woman. "There should be everything you need in there, Miss Winry."

"Thank you, Lynne. That's a nice hand you've got there. Who made it?"

"Mr. Garfiel made it for me when I was twelve. It took two years for me to recover from the surgery, but I'm glad I went with something I can move like a normal hand." The green eyed girl beamed with admiration.

"I thought I recognized that work. Did you make these models here in your shop?" Winry asked inquisitively.

The smile became a sulk. "No… I'm just a seller. I've been trying to learn how to make them, but it's almost as complicated as alchemical formulae for me."

Ed chuckled. "Well at least you can fix them up without a hitch. I know for sure, she'd have killed me if it weren't for you."

The three shared a laugh and Eiren came back in the room wearing a baggy black shirt and red shorts. Attached to her thighs were the wooden replacements she had been borrowing. She sat down in front of Winry, next to Ed and put her legs up on the stool in between them. Lynne pulled her padded stool from behind the counter and sat facing Eiren's legs.

Winry took out a few tools from the tool box and set them on a table to her right. She then unhooked the temporaries and looked held her hand out toward Ed. He opened the heavy suitcase and handed the first leg to the pregnant mechanic.

Winry looked Eiren in her one eye, noting the nervous expression on her face. "Before I do this, do you have any reflexes that kick in when your legs are attached?"

"My leg jerks up toward me when the nerves connect. I think my arm muscles clench too, but that's about it."

"Alright then, are you ready?"

"You bet!" The raven haired girl exclaimed.

"Let's do this!" Winry lined up the left leg, and began to count. "One… two… THREE!"

The leg connected, the nerves surged, Eiren yelped and her newly attached leg jerked backward. The second leg went on in a similar manner and after much sweating and tearing, the four shared a good laugh, and Lynne swooned over the craftsmanship of the limbs. Outside the thunder and rain continued on.

* * *

><p>Markus looked out into the stormy sky. "I don't think you're going to get any more customers tonight, Sam. You want me to help you close?"<p>

"That would be great! Do you mind if I crash on your couch tonight? Your place is way closer than mine and I don't have an umbrella."

He felt his ears and cheeks heat up once more. "U-h s-sure! That sounds… er… f-fine." He laughed nervously.

"Thanks!" She gave him a hug and the two went about closing the coffee shop. Soon they were done and all that was left was to lock up.

Sam turned off the lights and stepped outside with Markus. She locked the door and he opened his umbrella. He held it up above him and let her slide in close to him as they made their way back to Markus's small apartment. He began to think about how the day had gone and his thoughts were plagues with the mysterious blur that had nearly knocked him over. He knew that somehow, it was important.

The thunder boomed right overhead as they reached his front door. Sam pressed herself close to him, hiding her face. He put his arm around her and suddenly, the blur didn't seem so important anymore.


End file.
